Why is binding a column to a property in an an anonymous type as hard as it is?

[Stuart Hemming]

OK, I prepared to accept that I'm doing this wrong but...

I have a grid that includes the following column definition ...

<telerik:GridBoundColumn
  HeaderText="Name"
  SortExpression="Name"
  UniqueName="Name">
</telerik:GridBoundColumn>

My code behind reads something like this ...

var l = from contact in contacts
        select new
        {
           ContactID = contact.ContactID,
           Name = contact.LastName + ", " + contact.FirstName,
        };
gdContacts.MasterTableView.DataSource = l;

When I run this, rather than a value of "Hemming, Stuart" the "Name" column contains a ".ToString()"-like value that reads "{ContactID=1, Name="Hemming, Stuart"}.

Things work as expected if I change my column definition to a template column like this...

<telerik:GridTemplateColumn
  HeaderText="Name"
  SortExpression="Name"
  UniqueName="Name">
  <ItemTemplate>
    <asp:Label runat="server" ID="lblName" Text='<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container, "DataItem.Name") %>' />
  </ItemTemplate>
</telerik:GridTemplateColumn>

So, why is that?

Enquiring minds, and all that.

-- 

Stuart

[Rosen]

Stuart,

You are missing the DataField property from the GridBoundColumn declaration.

All the best,
Rosen
the Telerik team

[Stuart Hemming]

[FX: Peers at code. Does a double-take and slaps head] Doh!

And you have no idea how long I looked at that code.

Sometimes, I shouldn't even be allowed out!

Thanks Rosen.

-- 

Stuart, aka Clueless of Grantham.